How to Find Work Designing Logos

If you have a creative talent for design, and like to express your creativity through branding, then finding work designing logos might be for you. There are offline and online ways to find contract work as a logo designer. You can try working for businesses, non-profits, governments, education or try your hand at contract work for design firms. Finally check out some of the best online freelance marketplaces to get logo design work.

Who Uses Logos?

Obviously businesses of all kinds need logos. From tiny one person start-ups to large multi-nationals engaged in rebranding, all kinds of businesses need a high quality logo. For example, Xerox recently launched a new logo. Other companies create special versions of their logo for events. The CFL uses a new logo for every Grey Cup for example.

Non-profits need logos too, maybe even more often than for profit businesses. This is because non-profits are often launching new programs or fundraising drives that have a specific name and need a catchy logo to attract attention.

Governments use logos too. Like non-profits, governments are regularly creating specific logos for departments, joint-ventures and new programs. That new recycling initiative? Needs a logo. Campaign to promote drinking tap water in the regional district? Needs a logo. The appetite for logo and branding creation knows no limit in the government sector.

Education is another industry that often needs a logo expert. From pre-school to University and private to public all schools continue to become more brand conscious.

You are Your First Client

If you plan to sell branding services, start by branding yourself. It does not have to be fancy, but you can create a little image around your logo design and branding business to showcase what you can do for your clients. Be crisp, be direct, be clean and be creative - your clients will love it.

Once you have a personal brand, with email sig files, business cards and maybe a simple website showcasing your services, you are ready to go looking for clients.

What to Charge

A simple logo design is not worth much. There are designers in third world countries that can crank out cheap logo designs, often basing the designs on other logos and making modifications to suit.

The value added, profitable work is in providing a customized branding solution. Does the business need business cards designed? What about a new website? Products and packaging, automobile wraps, marketing brochures, direct mail pieces, and so many other identity related pieces constitute what most businesses actually need when they go looking for a new logo. You can compete again cheap overseas designers because you can sit down with the business owner and understand what they really need to accomplish before getting to work on the design. Many businesses can become long term repeat customers for the designer that takes the time to understand the business and build a relationship with the management where the designer and the management are working together on all aspects of marketing and branding.

Where to Look for Logo Work - Prospecting Around You

Contacting governments and non-profits can lead to good opportunities because once you become the "go to" logo person you can see steady work. Also be alert for schools and businesses using outdated logos that really need an update. Send these establishments a quick rebranding proposal with some samples of your work. Include a price, project specifications and turn around time. Then make sure to follow up in a few days with a phone call and another email to close the deal.

While unsolicited, you may strike a cord with the management who have been aware they need to do an image update but have been too busy to start. Make it easy for them to get that image update done and you might just pick up some good logo design work.

Local design and advertising firms may be interested in hiring your services on a contract basis. Search out design and advertising companies to send your portfolio too. To get design work you will need to be persistent and present a portfolio of work to potential employers.

Where to Look for Logo Work - Online

One online freelance marketplace is projecting that the amount of work done remotely over disbursed worker networks will double again in 2012. It is certainly possible as more businesses see the advantages of using the on demand work force and more workers decide to take control of their own destiny and work for themselves, or more precisely, for a multitude of employers rather than tying their whole livelihood to one fickle boss.

There are a number of websites that specialize in creating logos for businesses. Search like a buyer of logos to find these and then apply for contract work. If you can submit good samples and deliver fast turn around, there should be work out there for you.

To cut out the middle person online, go to oDesk for hundreds of logo design jobs. Many of these jobs are for websites but others are to brand whole businesses. How cool would it be to design the logo for the next big internet success?

Credit: odesk.comAs I write this article there are 882 unfilled logo design jobs and thousands of graphic design jobs. Pay rates range, but most are within reasonable industry ranges. Membership is free, payment is done weekly. Setting up a profile and getting qualified to work on oDesk is not difficult.

eLance is another, somewhat smaller, online freelance marketplace. Like on oDesk, freelance workers compete for work including graphic design jobs. There are hundreds of active graphic design jobs at any given time of eLance. Joining is free and competing for jobs is free. Like oDesk, eLance takes a cut, for providing the marketplace, between what the buyer pays and the service provider gets paid net.

There are also a few other online freelance marketplaces that are not as well organized as oDesk. They may be worth checking out if your still looking for work after oDesk.

Comments

Great article -- and great online income idea for designers. I had a graphic designer create a unique logo for a project of mine years ago, and it helped re-define every aspect of my small PT service business... It helped in so many ways! Great article.

Reply to this Comment

I'm not skilled at graphic design, but for those that are the internet has made it so much easier to find graphic design work. The proliferation of websites has also driven up the demand for graphic design work.